Ordnung des Tisches bei Hofe

Conventional table manners are a feature of every civilized society. But why were so many so-called “Tischzuchten” written in the German Middle Ages? They not only appeared as a component of textbooks for socially higher-ranking children, but were also numerous as independent texts that form their own literary genre. In this study, the social background of their emergence, their role and function for the common meal and their connection with the images of contemporaries are discussed. This is done based on various source material including account books, chronicles, courtly epics, Tischzucht-text and pictures.